Williams unveils retro-inspired livery as it launches 2021 F1 car

Williams has become the penultimate Formula 1 team to unveil its 2021 car ahead of the new season.

Williams was meant to launch its FW43B with the use of augmented reality which would have allowed fans to view this year’s car in all of its glory from their own living rooms via a phone app.

This was scrapped after Williams revealed the app they had planned to use was hacked.

The Williams FW43B sports a revised livery for 2021 consisting of blue, white and yellow, reminiscent of Nigel Mansell's iconic FW14B from 1992.

Speaking after the launch of the new car, CEO Jost Capito said: “Williams Racing is a sporting icon, and a team that has forged a reputation of success through sheer determination and grit intertwined with innovation, passionate and skilful race-craft and an absolute desire to win. Highs and lows are typical in any long-established sporting brand’s journey and historic success can be a strong motivator, but it cannot be relied upon to define future success in the modern era of Formula One.

“Therefore, we have created a fresh new livery for the 2021 car; one that acknowledges our incredible past and retains the spirit, drive and motivation that remains at the core of Williams’ DNA yet looks to the future and signposts our long-term ambition to return to the front of the grid. Whilst we are just starting out on this journey and there is still a lot of work to do, we are happy to see momentum in the right direction and look forward to continuing that progress on track this season.”

Fans of one of F1’s most iconic teams will be hoping Williams continues the upwards trajectory it showed in 2020 into this season.

While it didn’t score a point for the first time in its history, the Williams in the hands of George Russell proved to be a competitive package as the Mercedes junior was a regular Q2 participant.

2021 will mark Russell’s third season with the team as he teams up with Canadian Nicholas Latifi once again.

As announced earlier in the week, Jack Aitken will remain the team’s official reserve driver for the season.

The FW43B is the first car launched under the Dorilton Capital management structure after taking over from the Williams family midway through last season.

Drivers Russell and Latifi have already had the opportunity to shakedown their new car at Silverstone on February 17.

They will get a chance to have an extended run in the FW43B next week as pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain on March 12-14.

Ferrari will take the covers off its SF21 challenger on March 10 - the final team to do so.